A morning show

We have just had new windows put in at the front of our house and have not as yet put blinds or curtains back, this I was grateful for this morning when I got woken to see an amazing sunrise.

What a great way to start Mother's day. This was followed by breakfast in bed, flowers and presents. To all the Mums, hope you had a great day too.

Open inspections show less = more

I have recently been going to a number of open inspections of houses for sale in my area. Reason being that close friends of mine are looking to buy and another friend is getting ideas for her new build.

I must say this is something I love doing as it gives me ideas for my own house and one thing I have learnt recently is less can equal more comfort and peace in a house.

If you have looked at house for sale recently or sold one of your own you would know that in many cases the houses are completely de-cluttered of personal stuff and in some then given the going over by an interior designer. Now the lack of personal items can make a house a bit sterile but if an interior designer has then gone through the house and added rental furniture and ornaments it can give you some great ideas for basic room looks.

I particularly liked a house I looked at on the weekend as it is a weatherboard like my house with a very similar layout.

Photos from domain.com.au



Love the frontage. Gives me ideas as we are in the middle of doing ours with new windows going in tomorrow.



 Also love the neutral de-cluttered interior and am planning on making my lounge more like this one in terms of layout. My lounge will have more colour, (especially as we have a blue lounge and can't afford to replace it) and family photos though.







How peaceful does this bedroom look, love the window seat.

As mentioned we are getting new windows put in tomorrow in the front two rooms, being the main bedroom and lounge room, so I have just cleared these rooms out. On Friday once all is cleaned up I might just put things back a little differently and leave some things out completely.

Autumn colour inside and out

I love this time of year, watching the trees around the neighbourhood changing colour. I particularly enjoy looking out at the centrepiece of our garden, a beautiful Canadian Maple.

As we head into the cooler months I have also added more of the warming colour red to my interior and the view of the Maple really sets this off.

Unfortunately in the last day the tree has lost a lot of leaves and anticipating this, last week I brought some small branches inside for decoration.

It is hard to believe that just a week ago our Maple still had some green. It has changed quickly.

I have also brought in some Manchurian Pear branches. Our trees haven't changed colour yet even though many down the street have.

Just an aside I have taken all this photos using Instagram, so if you are on Instagram look out for me @georgygdesign.

Garden to plate - tomato, coriander salsa

It has been so hot in Melbourne and the heat is going to continue for another few days. The heat is really starting to effect me, the kids and the garden. My poor herbs, are dropping, even though I water them daily and they are in the shade.

Luckily I was able to get enough coriander and probably almost our last crop of cherry tomatoes for the season and make a refreshing salsa. This one is well worth making and can be eaten by itself or goes well on garlic / herb bread, lamb or chicken.

For the one pictured above I used:

14 cherry tomatoes

2 tablespoons of fresh coriander

2 avocados (have to try growing these next)

1 glove of crushed garlic

2 tablespoons of lime juice

A pinch of salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy!

New direction - house to home, garden to plate

Now the extension is finished I have been thinking what next with the blog? As many of you know even though an extension or house might have finished being built there is still lots to then do to make a house a home. This is what I am now going to focus on.

I had a good Summer break with the kids and now they are back at school and kinder, I have had a little head space and time to reflect.

A big thing for me is making our house a home, somewhere we feel comfortable, have fun and enjoy. Somewhere family and friends love to visit and spend time with us. The same goes for the garden, we would love a mini oasis in the middle of suburbia.

Over Summer holidays I quickly realised a few things, to have a comfortable home you want it to be cool and shaded. There is lots of  sun about and so was glad we got the solar panels in. For the garden water is obviously a necessity so hence a good size water tank. Other factors will come into play in Winter, so I am looking at sustainability measures to make our house comfortable all year around. This will also help keep the heating / cooling bills down.

The other thing I took in is with a lot of entertaining and the kids being home over the holidays we wasted a lot of fresh food by buying too much and then it spoiling before we ate it. So now I not only want to make a beautiful garden but a productive one. This has started with my bumper crop of cherry tomatoes which the kids, hubby and I not only enjoyed eating but the kids loved planting and picking them too. This also brings up the topic of fun things to do with the kids around the house and garden, another focus for my future posts.

Over Spring and Summer we have been working on our garden and thinking ahead we have started to plant tress that will not only grow to hide the fence and look good but will eventually grow fruit, our mini orchard in the middle of suburbia (see picture below-planting was something Hubby and son enjoyed together). 

So with all this in mind I hope you can join my journey of making my house a home and my garden a productive one. I am also aiming to come up with some great recipes, that use the fresh produce we have grown. I would love it too if you could share ideas with me along the way. So stay tuned for my garden to plate posts.